The Tibet Autonomous Region, covering an area of 1.22 million square kilometres, is situated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the south-western border area of China. It enjoys unique plateau environment. Averaging more than 4,000 meters in elevation, it is always regarded as the highest region in the world and is known as “the roof of the world”. Tibet abuts on Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan province. It has 3,842 km borders with China’s neighbouring countries of Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal as well as Kashmir in the south and west (Zhang & Zheng 2004).
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Tourism is playing an increasingly crucial role in Tibet’s tertiary industry. Even though these is unique natural and culture tourism resources, tourism were developed in Tibet very late. Prior China’s reform and opening-up policies in 1978, there was almost no tourism in Tibet. After about 30 years, tourism in Tibet has become much more developed, especially after the Qinghai-Tibet railway has been completed and operated. In 2008, there were 2,246,400 tourists visiting Tibet, which bigger than the total number of tourists who went to Tibet between 1980 and 1997(China Tibetology Research Centre 2009). (Figure 2)
Figure 2: Changes in Tibet’s Tourism Revenues and Number of Tourists Between 1980 and 2008
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Source: Tibet Statistical Yearbook 2009
2.3 SWOT analysis
To understanding the characteristics of tourism in Tibet and its internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, SWOT analysis will be presented.
Strength
Diverse tourism resources. Tibet’s long history, splendid culture and its unique plateau environment are all important attractions of Tibet.
Regional strength. As China’s border areas, Tibet borders with India, Nepal, and Myanmar etc.
Political strength. The implementation of the strategy for the development of the western region of China gave Tibet powerful political support(Meng & Huang 2007).
Weaknesses
Undeveloped transportation.
Lack of overall strategy.
Poor infrastructure. The number of hotels, travel agencies and facilities cannot meet the growing demands of visitors (Meng & Huang 2007).
Opportunities
Government support. The Chinese government not only operate some politics but also invest huge amount of money into tourism development of Tibet.
Huge demand of tourism market. Domestic tourism demand is growing and some restrictive factors affecting the tourism demand has been alleviated (Meng & Huang 2007).
Economic development of China.
Threats
Stiff competition
Relationship between development and protection
Figure 3: SWOT analysis of tourism in Tibet
2.4 Tourism market
These years, the number of tourists visiting Tibet soars. Since 1980, the Tibet’s tourism market can be separated into three stages. Firstly, from 1980s to 1990s, international visitors dominated the tourism market. However, from 1990s, domestic visitors increased rapidly. For instance, in 1996 the number of international visitors is 2500 while as domestic visitors is 250,000 (Tan 2006). In 2004, the number of visitors even surpassed one million. The third stage is from 2006, when the Qinghai-Tibet railway has been completed and operated. The number of domestic visitors changed tremendously, reaching five million in 2010.
2.5 Proposed growth value
3. Transport system in Tibet
3.1 Responsible agencies and firms
The government of China is the main organizer of the construction of Tibet’s transport system. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949, the state invested huge amounts of funds in Tibet’s transport construction. The transportation within Tibet and between the autonomous region and other places has been fundamentally changed. Take Qinghai-Tibet Railway project for instance, the Central Government has invested around US$3.17 billion in it. In addition to the investment, Chinese government also drew up a series of new principles and policies to assure that the construction of transport in Tibet will be processed smoothly, among which the western development strategy is the most significant one. With this strategy’s implementation and the close attention of the regional government, great effort has been taken to support the development of Tibet transport system.
3.2 Existing transport system
Before 1949, there was no road in Tibet. Through the gorgeous mountains and vast plateau plains, caravans journeyed on dangerous paths with heavy loads. However, currently, the transportation network is in place, with highway transport as the main part, supplemented by rail and air transportation.
Road transportation
Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, the decades of construction has brought Tibet four inter-provincial roads connecting Tibet with Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Yunnan. The major roads include Qinghai-Tibet Highway, Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, Yunnan-Tibet Highway and China-Nepal International Road. The travel routes inside the region are formed on a road network with the major roads and their branches.
At the end of 2008, including these five national highways, there are altogether 15 trunk lines and 315 feeder lines in Tibet, and the total length of the roads in the autonomous region reached 51,314 kilometres. Over 92 percent of the township and nearly 72 percent of the administrative villages have been connected with roads.
Figure 3: Road Map of Tibet
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Source: www.discovertibettour.com/tibet-maps.html
Figure 4: Major Trunk Highways
Qinghai-Tibet Highway
From Xining in Qinghai to Lhasa in Tibet
Known as the “lifeline” of the autonomous region, the highway caries more than 80percent of goods into or out of Tibet. The 2,122 km highway is paved with asphalt. Rising over 4,000 meters above sea level, it crosses the Kunlun and Tanggula mountains.
Sichuan-Tibet Highway
From Chengdu in Sichuan to Lhasa in Tibet
Extending 2,413 km, the highway links Tibet with various provinces in southwest China
Xinjiang-Tibet Highway
From Yecheng in Xinjiang to Ngari in Tibet
Extending 1,179 km, it is the highest highway in the world
Yunnan-Tibet Highway
Form Xiaguan in Yunnan to Mangkam in Tibet
The highway extends 315 km.
China-Nepal Highway
Rom Lhasa to Friendship Bridge in Zham, Shigaze of Tibet to Kathmandu of Nepal
The highway extends 736km.
Railway transportation
Although covering about one eighth of China’s land area, Tibet was previously the only province level region not accessible via railway. Qinghai-Tibet railway is the only rail transport to Tibet. Before the opening of the railway, visitors could only reach Tibet by air or road. This railway measures 1963 kilometres from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, which is the world’s most elevated and longest plateau railway (Cao & Lin 2008). Along the way 965 kilometres of the railway are located over 4,000 metres, over 600 kilometres traverse the perennial frozen tundra. At the highest point, the Danggula Mountain pass is 5,072 metres above sea level. Thus, Qinghai-Tibet Railway is often called as “railway on the rooftop of the world”. However, although it is more convenient and cost-effective, it is the only railway to reach Tibet.
Figure 3: Railway from and to Tibet
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Air transportation
The air route over Tibet is the most efficient way for communications between Tibet and the rest of the world. The first air route was started in Tibet in 1956, which is from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, to Lhasa (Pan & Liu 2006). Till now, air routes between Lhasa and cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, and Guangzhou have been established. In addition, the international air route between Lhasa and Kathmandu, Capital of Nepal, has also been open for traffic. However, there are only five civilian airports in Tibet: Gonggar Airport of Lhasa, Nyingchi Airport, Bangda Airport of Qamdo, Ngari airport and Shigatse Airport, among which Ngari airport and Shigatse Airport were first put into use in 2010.
Figure 4: Map of Tibet flight routes
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Transportation of cities and towns
The cities and towns in Tibet all have certain roads connecting each other. But there aren’t many transportation vehicles. It’s hard to predict which part will be the toughest in a trip.
In Lhasa, Shigaze, Zetang and other larger cities, mini-buses, taxis, or tricycles can be chosen.
Buses with 35 seats run to all major tourism sites and the price is always 2 Yuan each person with in the unban sphere.
There are now over 1,200 taxis in Lhasa and its suburbs. In the urban area, a trip by taxi usually costs 10-15 Yuan.
In Lhasa, tricycles will cost from 2-5 Yuan for two persons. They are found near the Barkhor Bazaar. In addition, many hotels in Tibet can rent bicycles.
Some scenic spots in Lhasa are not connected with buses yet. Across Tibet, many vehicle companies and travel agencies can help tourists rent vehicles for long-distance journeys. The average cost is 2.5-8 Yuan per kilometre and it differs according to the type and function of the vehicle and the condition of the travel route.
3.3 Deficiencies
Since Tibet’s unique natural geographical and economic backwardness, its poor transport infrastructure cannot meet the requirements of the rapidly growing tourists. Transportation restricts the overall development of tourism in Tibet.
Transport infrastructure is seriously lagging behind.
Firstly, the total length of road is short and the density of transport facilities is low. The density of roads in Tibet is only 3.36 km each 100 square km, which is the lowest province among the country, comparing 17.82% of the average density of national roads (Cao & Lin 2008). These five main highways connecting with other provinces in China are fragile and easy to be affected by natural disasters. In fact, among these five highways, only Qinghai-Tibet Highway can be open throughout the years, others just can be opened seasonally.
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Furthermore, comparing with Tibet’s 1.22 million square kilometres of regional area, the number of airport is too few. During tourist season, domestic routes are obviously insufficient. The only international airline is from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Due to the lack of other international non-stop flights, most tourists have to choose Beijing-Chengdu-Lhasa or Shang-Chengdu-Lhasa routes, which greatly increased the length of journey to Tibet and the airfare is considerable high.
Lastly, railway line is single. Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the only railway transport in Tibet. Since it was constructed on the average of 4,500- 5,000 metre Tibetan Plateau, the maintenance of it is incredible difficult.
The development of transportation in the regional area is uneven.
Tibet’s transport is concentrated in the relatively developed middle area. In contrast, transportation in southern Tibet and north-western Tibet is extremely backward. Most of roads are in low quality, even fragile and easy to be influenced by natural disaster. Western Tibet is the most isolated area. Some of areas are still undeveloped. It is urgent need to improve the transport conditions.
Low quality of transport services
The level of transport services directly related to the tourists’ evaluation of destination (Su & Wall 2009). Tourism transportation services not only include tourism projects, information of destinations and choices of transport, but also include accommodation, catering and other related security during the process of travel (Duval 2007). However, when travelling to Tibet, there would be some problem about traffic cannot depart on time and some tourism project and exact security information cannot be provided to tourists.
Strategy
In order to enable tourism transportation to adapt to the increasing demand of tourists in Tibet, effective scientific strategies should be made to cope with above deficiencies and to assure the transportation system in Tibet would have further improvement.
To meet the rapid development of tourism industry, it is necessary to expand the size of transport network to further improve the transport system. In terms of railway transport, fulfil the capacity of railway transport, expend access to and within the Tibet is of importance. It is proposed to construct more railways, like Yunnan-Tibet Railway, Gansu-Tibet Railway and Sichuan-Tibet Railway. The first regional railway, Shigatse- Tibet was proposed to built, which would be complete in 2014.
As for road transport, it is suggested to upgrade level of roads, increase management of maintenance of roads to improve disaster-combat capacity. In the national twelfth five-year development plan, regional government decided to made great efforts to develop road transportation in Tibet. In the Fifth Central Discussion Meeting on the Work of Tibet, central government also decided to accelerate construction of road network, with Lhasa as the centre, five State roads as the branches, and the district, county, township and border defence roads as the basis. Currently, the only way from Lhasa to other tourist attractions is road transport. However, some private road accessing to attractions is in the poor quality, which reduces the accessibility and influences the tourists flow. Some scenic spots in Tibet are not connected with roads yet. Thus, it is crucial to increase access level of these places.
As to air transport, according to the principles of rational distribution, it is suggested to increase the number of airport to incorporate all major cities and towns into national air routes network. With the increasing number of tourist, it is necessary to open some routes to Hong Kong, Tokyo or New Delhi and some tourism developed cities.
Improve the serves of tourism transportation. According to the situation of Tibet, tourism transport sector should improve the level of roads, choose convenient routes, and provide high quality means of transport. In addition, multi-channel and multi-ticket booking service should be provided to minimize transfer time.
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